From the Blog

Foxy Brown Cuffed After Exchange With Judge

Rapper Foxy Brown was handcuffed in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday (December 23), and narrowly avoided a 30 day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine by apologizing to the judge. The New York Post reports that Brown was in court to finalize a plea deal stemming from a August 2004 incident in which she allegedly assaulted two manicurists at a Manhattan nail salon.

Brown was scheduled to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for community service, but as she sat in the courtroom, Judge Melissa Jackson thought the rapper was chewing gum and asked her to get rid of it. Brown responded by opening her mouth and sticking her tongue out. Judge Jackson told the rapper’s attorney, “I don’t like your client’s attitude. She’s making faces. She’s sneering.”

Judge Jackson ordered Brown cuffed to a bench for 15 minutes, but when a female court officer attempted to handcuff the rap star they got into a heated exchange over a bracelet the rapper was wearing, with Brown saying, “Don’t grab on me!”

The rapper’s lawyer pleaded with the judge and attempted to explain to the judge that Brown has a hearing problem but the Judge Jackson said, “She heard me. She was making faces at the court. She understood me.”

Brown refused to apologize until she was threatened with thirty days behind bars. The cuffed rapper finally said, “I apologize to the court for my actions.”

Since the parties were unable to reach a plea deal, the case is now slated to got to trial on January 23rd.

Minister Benjamin Chavis of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network took offense to the Judge Jackson’s actions. He told the New York Post, “It appeared the judge’s prejudice toward Foxy Brown was also because of Foxy’s race.”